Rebel Joseph Kony of Uganda is breaking his rules

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group in Uganda under its notorious leader Joseph Kony, has for over 20 years haunted the Northern parts of Uganda, some parts of Southern Sudan, and more recently North Eastern DRC. These rebels have ruthlessly abducted hundreds of children as soldiers and sex slaves, brutally killed thousands of people, displaced hundreds of thousands, and many more scarred for life by rape, maiming, and loss of kin.

All of these inhumane acts have been done in the pretext of restoring the Ten Commandments. This purpose is absurdly insane and meaningless simply because Kony is contradicting himself. He is breaking the very same commandments that he wishes to restore. For example: the third commandment says, “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord.” The rebellion uses the Lord’s name in vain. No Lord (God) would be pleased with such atrocious acts “in his name” against humanity. The sixth commandment which says, “You shall not kill”, speaks for itself. The fifth commandment says, “Honour your father and mother...” In the African tradition, parents go beyond biological fathers and mother and include uncles, aunts and any elderly person in the community. Kony has killed them.

Given Kony’s contradictions in breaking the Ten Commandments, he has no grounds on which to base his rebellion. Either he is insane or he has an incentive to keep the war going. This raises many questions: it has been over 20 years, why hasn’t the rebellion been crushed? Are the governments of the affected countries not doing enough? Is the rebellion externally supported and resourced? Is there more to this rebellion than is being revealed?

This rebellion nonsense in Africa must stop. How many people must die? How much infrastructure must be destroyed? How much damage must be done before Africa (and the rest of the world) rises to heed the cries of the dead and suffering? Many people’s livelihoods have been reduced to the confines of refugee camps. Others have had to flee to the forests and live like wild animals. Children have been orphaned and forced to the streets. Development in the affected regions is stagnated. There is disruption in the implementation of policies and programs to improve health, food security, education, agriculture, small business growth and general poverty eradication. This is no wonder that Africa remains largely underdeveloped and impoverished.

Is there hope for Africa? Yes there is hope!

For more insight into the Joseph Kony and the Rebellion in Uganda, visit www.petereichstaedt.blogspot.com